Rules For Writers: Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Repair Sentence Fragments

"A sentence fragment is a word group that pretends to be a sentence. Sentence fragments are easy to recognize when they appear out of context."
By recognizing sentence fragments, a sentence must consist of at least one full independent clause. The independent clause has a subject and a verb, it either stands or alone or could stand alone. To test a sentence to see if it is a fragment you can follow a few simple steps:
If their is NO verb then it is a fragment. If their is NO subject it is a fragment. An easy way to revise a fragment is to attach the frament to a nearby sentence or turn the fragment into a sentence.
An often reason for having fragmentation is because the sentence is a subordinate clause. A subordinate clause is patterend like a sentence with both a subject and verb but it begins with a word that marks it as subordinate.
There are few occasions where a frabment may be used for a special purpose such as: emphasis, to answer a question, a transition, exclamations, and in advertising.

When writing my own work I often have a lot of fragments in my spell check which is why I chose to do this chapter. What i will take away most from this chapter and use in my future work is to recognize a subordinate clause and change the way i start a sentence so it is not a fragment. Changing fragments into sentences should now be easy!

Rules For Writers: Chapter 18

FIND THE EXACT WORDS:

In this chapter the main focus is the connotation of words that is appropriate for your purpose, your audience and your subject matter. Try to mot misuse words. Ways that you can misuse a word is if a word is not in your active vocabulary, you will probably find yourself miss using it. Also be alert for misused word forms aswell. Avoid cliches as much as possible, cliches are overused and no longer come as a surprise in a text. Try adding an element of surprise to your cliches. Use figures of speech with care: A figure of speech is an expression that uses words imaginatively to make abstract ideas concreat. Make sure that you are thinking through your figure of speech and not giving off a mixed metaphor to your reader. 

What I took away most from this chapter is the section about misused words. I often try to find a better word for something, and then it just ends up not making sense or fitting correctly. In this chapter it says "When in doubt, Use a dictionary". Ive never really had a dictionary handy when im writing a paper or text but i think i will from now on so i can have a more broad selection of words and surprise my readers.

Rules For Writers: Chapter 48

Evaluating Arguments:


In this chapter we focus on learning how to evaluate arguements. Fallacies: things such as hasty generalizations and false analogies, misguided or dishonest use of legitimate argumentative strategies. 
When we draw a conclusion from an array of facts, we engage in inductive reasoning that promotes opinions and probabiblity, not certainty. By stereotyping we tend to see what we want to see, instead of noticing evidence to the contrary. Analogies can be an effective mean of arguing. It points out a similarity between two things that are otherwise different. Its good to always try and distinguish between fair and unfair emotional appeals then judge how fairly a writer handles opposing views. The difference between the two is that legitimate emotions appeal to the reader by invoking them. Were unfair emotions is when words with strong positive or negative connotations are used with bias language.


I liked this chapter because I enjoy arguing but after reading this chapter I learned a lot and feel like I can really improve my argumentive text. I liked the point about stereotyping and that people often dont use facts when trying to argue. They use probability instead of certainty. 

Rules For Writers: Chapter 47

CONSTRUCTING REASONABLE ARGUEMENTS

In chapter 47 it gives us many good points on how to prove or make a successful arguement in text. The tone you choose to use sets the base of your argument. You can be overly aggressive, too passive, or have an assertive tone. Never assume that your audience you are talking too already agrees with you, it is helpful to act like they do not agree with you, that way you are making an argument to persuade them towards your side. Make sure that you are always being clear with what side and position you stand on the topic, you introduce this in the introduction. When making your thesis in your introduction paragraph, follow up in the body with persuasive lines of arguments. In order to make a successful arguement you wil need to support your claim with facts, statistics, evidence, examples or illusions. Some topics are based off personal experience and you wont need to gather examples or evidence. Using facts is always better then using your own opinion. A fact is.."something that is known with certainty because it has been objectively verified". Anticipating your counter opposing arguments will help you be prepared to prove your point before they can fire back at you with that argument. Shut them down, before they shut you down. 

I really enjoyed this chapter because I like writing persuasive texts. Persuasive texts isnt necessarily an argument, but you are presenting points of pro's and con's to your audience. I am a very strong headed person and I like to argue. I tend to put too much of my opinion into my texts when trying to make an argument so what I am going to take away from this chapter most is "47e, Support your claims with specific evidence". By proving facts in my text instead of my own opinion I will have a better chance of winning the argument and proving my point correctly, instead of opinion based. 

Essay 2 Rough Draft

Coming Home Again and The Joys of Reading and Writing theme

Like mother like daughter is a saying that has been used throughout my family since as long as I can remember. When it comes down to it, we relate most to our parents. That doesn’t necessarily mean we have to look like them, act, dress, or do everything they do. It’s the things that outsiders beyond our family pick up on and notice how alike two people are, without those two people even really knowing themselves. For me personally its always been “Like father like daughter”. My dad and I were very alike in the way we presented ourselves and the little actions we did that others noticed. When I was younger I wanted to be just like my dad, he was a strong, funny, caring, un-selfish human being and I respected and admired him in every way. I would dress like him, follow behind in his footsteps, literally, and walk liked him.

The theme from “Coming Home Again” and “The Joys of Reading and Writing” is the special relationship that the parent and child share in both stories. The parents are responsible for shaping both the kids into successful and great human beings.

In the “Joys of Reading and Writing” the sons success of becoming a writer is all due to the inspiration he gained from his father. His father was one of the few Indians who went to Catholic school and took the time outside of school to read all sorts of different texts, challenging him everyday to become a more advanced reader.  The author states that, “My father loves books, and since I loved my father with an aching devotion, I decided to love books as well”.  This quotes touches me because of the fact that one person can thrive so much of another persons success and passion for something, to turn it into their own success and passion.

In “Coming Home Again” the son and mothers relationship grows stronger the sicker she becomes. The son was always her prized child and the one she had always spoiled. The mother is proud of her son being a graduate of a top boarding school in New Hampshire but she would never admit that she wishes that he never had left her alone for those years. The mother became very sick with cancer and the son returned home to take care of her and be with the rest of his family. Food was always a huge part of their family because the mother was a great cook. When she got sick she was unable to cook for the family and couldn’t eat much of anything herself. The son took over the role that she played in the kitchen and spent hours and hours learning how to cook the way she did. The family was Korean and usually ate mainly Korean food but the son introduced her to some American food. The son cooked for her and the family everyday, hoping that one day she would be able to eat his meals and be proud of his success.

In both stories the sons followed in their parents footsteps and did what there parents love. The only difference is that in “Joys of Reading and Writing” the son wanted to be just like his dad and prove to be a successful intelligent Indian unlike the majority of the tribe, whereas in “Coming Home Again” the son took over his mother’s role and was just trying to make his mother proud and happy.

Not only did I decide to play sports and make it a huge part of my life because my I wanted to, I also did it because my parents loved it. I think I can relate myself most to the character in “Coming Home Again” because all I have ever wanted to do is make my parents happy and proud with the person I am becoming. I think what the son did by cooking everyday showed a lot of integrity and kind-hearted characteristics. Everyday he would wake up and cook multiple meals, and each time he cooked that meal he only hoped that his mom would be able to taste the warmth of a homemade soup on her tongue but he knew that it wouldn’t happen. He did what made her happy, because when she was happy, he was happy. 

Rules For Writers: Chapter Four

Building Effective Paragraphs

"A paragraph should be unified around a main point. The point should be clear to readers, and all sentences in the paragraph should relate to it". A topic sentence can be put in the beginning in a paragraph or the end depending on if the earlier sentences hang together so well that readers perceive their direction. A topic sentence sets the theme of the further sentences in the paragraph that are going to come. It is always helpful to choose a suitable pattern of organization and stick to it. If your writing isnt clear and organized then the readers will be confused and not understand how to follow the text. Here are a couple forms of paragraphs: narration is a paragraph that tells a story or part of a story that is usually arranged in chronological order but may contain flashbacks. A descriptive paragraph sketches a portrait of a place, person or thing by using concrete and specific details that appeal to one or more of our senses. A process paragraph is structured in chronoligical order.

The most important things that I can take away from this reading is to make my paragraphs coherent. A coherent paragraph is when sentences and pargraphs flow from one to another without discernible bumps, gaps, or shifts. Once I get an idea in my head I am pretty good with gathering my main points, topics, arguements or stories. I need to work on having better transition sentences and paragraphs and making everything flow together better.

Rules For Writers: Chapter Three

Making global revisions; then revise sentences.

This chapter is mainly about after you finish writing a text, going back and revising or editing sentences, paragraphs, ideas or even your thesis. When you revise sentences, you focus on effectiveness; when you edit, you check for correctness. Going back and doing a global revision focuses on a couple main points of what you should look for. "Purpose and Audience" is used to make sure you are informing readers of your topic, entertaining them and answering any questions. "Focus" helps you make sure that your thesis is clear and that your ideas are not all scattered out and not making sense. Too many ideas all at once can be over-whelming to the reader and they wont be able to fully grasp the main concept of the paper. "Content" is the supporting material relevant and persuasive. Always have someone proofread your text because spell checkers and grammar checkers often miss a lot of things because they flag only the words not found in its dictionary.
Sometimes i'm self concsious about my writing and I don't usually like having people reading my work, but I really want to work on that because another persons perspective can really help me create a successful final draft. Laziness can get the best of me and I need to really focus on my spell check and grammar usage. I liked this chapter a lot because it's all about the area that I need the most work in and hopefully after reading this chapter, both you and I will see a change in my work!